Today, this baby has been cooking for 26 weeks. I guess that makes us well over halfway. Gulp!! I had my appointment with the midwives, and all seems well so far, despite my “geriatric” status. It was lovely to bring Evie along with me this afternoon – she is so excited about her new sister (and completely refuses to entertain the notion that there might actually be a brother in there!), and was thrilled to see all the photos on the walls of “all the cute babies. Awww, cute!”. There is a pin board in the hallway that has the names and weights of all the babies born in the birth centre in the last month, so while we were waiting, we went through them all, and discussed the pros and cons. She dismissed Ezekial out of hand (thank goodness), and was not at all keen on Parks, but she was very adamant about her absolute favourite. Which, I’m not going to share with you right now because it turns out that my daughter and I have very similar tastes. I reckon she’s nailed it! As long as the bump is pink, of course. If Daisy turns out to be a Duke, then he’s going to have a pretty hard time at school, if Evie gets her way.

She was a delight throughout the half hour we were there – she kissed my belly whenever she got the chance, chatted to Heike and Kayla about her birthday (yes, we are *still* talking about that!), and demonstrated her jumping skills to show just how talented she is, now that she is big and four. My little Doc McStuffins fan was fascinated by the sphygmomanometer, overjoyed to be asked to press the buttons on the doppler, and ever so (ever so) curious about the bed with the stirrups attached. Oh boy!

It’s so nice to be going through this pregnancy and having Evie be so excited by it. I remember writing about “the fear” when I was pregnant with Henry, I was so very worried about how Evie would cope with no longer being my one and only, and whether her cheerful personality would be affected by such a huge change – and at just 25 months when he was due, she was too young to really understand any of it. But this time, I (hopefully not too naively) don’t have any of those anxieties. I know that Henry is a terrible mummy’s boy, but Evie was quite the little snuggle bunny too, and she coped beautifully with her little brother’s arrival….and now, of course, they are the greatest of friends, they melt my heart every day with how sweetly they interact with each other. In between the usual angry outbursts of sibling rivalry and mild violence, of course. They are only human. But they are also clearly incredibly fond of each other. And now…. Evie is already quite besotted with this baby. Every time I eat or drink anything, she asks if Daisy likes it. We had a very random conversation today about what would happen if I ate old cheese. I told her it would give mummy a bad tummy, to which she replied “But what will happen to Daisy’s tummy?”. She also asked me if Daisy likes beer. When I said I didn’t know, she continued “But you are drinking beer. What if Daisy doesn’t like it!?”. I would like to point out here that a) I was DRIVING at the time, and b) it was a can of iced tea, your honour.

Honestly, Evie would be the world’s worst defense witness. Never, ever get on her bad side.

So yes, it’s terrifying enough, the thought of having three children under the age of 5 adding to this already chaotic life of ours, but at least this time round, I know I have my little buddy here to lend a helping hand. I’m so excited for my sweet Genevieve to meet this little one. I already know that she’s a fabulous big sister, but, oh, she does love babies so, it’s going to be absolutely magical to see how she responds to this one.

But for now…..we wait. Some of us more patiently than others. #100HappyDays

(See? That old cot scrubbed up OK in the end, didn’t it? It’s not scaring me. Nope, not at all….)